The Sun. — London, England, 1818-03-13 00:00:00

tray kept np b e f ore th e T ax , but that silica it bad been doobled they had decreased every: year. amount of toreign hides import 410 . I ars connive would also allot& a point of comparison. 1510,. !hey amounted- to 852,680. In 1811, t•-ey amounted to 1,10-1,688; and in. 1812, to 672 91;0. hi 1 814. s:nce the tax, they had sunk to 623,162, 49,438 less than in 1112. they were 345,655. In 1816, 427,966 ; and -in 1817, -337,493. The - average of thee three years before the tax was 876,616, and that of the three ear following its enactment 457,274; making a donmution of 419,372: So that the. irppoit of foleittt hides hid decreased nearly 0"4-half.sin . ce the imposition of .the 'additional duty"; a fact . which concurred with the ditninUt;on of the num ber of tanners themselves, in proving that- their' I I , srie•Was in a state of depression. He. was aware Gat the receipts of the Treasury would be'brought as-an answer: to -his arguments.• They hid cer tainly exceeded those of the - years befOre the tax, lon one of the reasons of this increase of .the -Re venue was, that many individuals had givete,np the trade and sold their stock in hand. • It was thus that the price of leather had fallen frone22o. to 20d. Thar a trade ,was depr e S se d :m i g h t not alone be a sufficient reason for taking off a tax,. but when it was seen that all other trades save that one. were .improving, the suffering branch Ellwild be teplaced in the situation in which it had bet n prosperous, and not be pressed down in time of peace by a war dtity, lie took the produce of that duty at 170,0001. or 200,0001., which might be of considerable moment to Government at' a iteriod like the present. But the tidies of the country did not (leptond on the receipt of the re venue ; they flowed• from the prosperity of the manufacturers; . tind if those manufacturers were injuredby any measure, .the revenue might expe rience a MOMtlitAry -inivro vent en, , but that inr rovement- would he followed by an ultimate loss. A revenue of 200,0001. a year shookd not be put into competition with the prosperity of trade.— Neither should he 'propose any new tax, to re plare_t he duty which he hoped would be retnoved. —Ft - Om The experience which he had of his Mr..- j-Sty'S Ministers, he knew that they would find means to make the revenue answer, if that branch -of it was lopped away, and that was the only mode in which the retrenchments necessary to the welfare of the State . could be obtlined. He concluded by moving. For leave t o b r i ng i n a Bill to repeal the additional Duty on Leather. The CHANCELLOR of the EXC . :IIEO.O P,R was not prepared to 'agree to a motion like the present. The course whiCh he conceived the Noble Lord ought to- have pursued would have been to move for the appointment of a Committee of Inquiry, that after due investigation some measure might have been proposed to the House, if it were found neces sary. Had the Noble Lord concluded by such a mo tion; lie (the Chancellor of the Exchequer) would not have opposed it. - He thought the complaints of - Petitioners, when properly expressed, entitled to the tjeat est attention ; and if be should find the House disposed to enter into an enquiry, he should conelode by moving that a Committee be eppoint el. He contended that the Noble Lord had only partially used the information contained in the papers. laid before the House. As long as the duty Was productive, it was impossible that the trade should be depressed. The Noble Lord had crated that before the last tax, the tanning trade Lad increased iii proportion to the population of the country. But the 'increase apparent in' the years which-- had been mentioned. bad arisen solely from" the impulse. given by war to that brAeeh of trade, and not from any other cause. The Noble Lord had himself been of that opinion . on a former OCC3SIOO , when he had warned his ,111 jesiy's ,Ministers that •they were not to depend 00 an amount of revenue which was raised to a ecrtain height by tenniorary causes. By the.pro _duce of the tax at different periods, thq House would be able to trace the progress of the trade. The average produce of the. duty daring the four years previous to the Amoican war foul heel) 204,0001., - and of the four eliding in 1791, .215,0001., and of those ending-on the sth Janu ary, 1812, on account of the extraordinary int :pulse: given by war to the trade, 39-1,0001. 'Fite average of the last four years was 268,0001., and that of the last two year 5•264,0001.. It therefore appeared, that the tax 'had tint impeded the home consumption, which, had been greater in the lat ter pet iod than in 1771, and had occasioned a.,rise of - 50,0001. a year in its produce since 1791. Un les- the Noble Lord conic' make it out that the tanning trade was inure impoverished than any other, his motion rested on no solid ground. It appeared, on the contrary, that it was the trade which bad, least suffered. The Noble Lord bad referred to the number of bankruptcies, and said that the'y had amounted to 75 during the five years that hail foll Owed the imposition of the tax, whilst there had been only 45 in the preceding fire years. But he ought to have said, that within the laSt two years, nod a half, fifty-six out of those seventy-five bankruptcies, had occurred in consequence of the .cessation of the tvar.-- Tl.e average for the other two years and a half previous to the peace was therefore inferior to what it bad been before the tax. It had been the same with , respect to the licenses:" In 1813 Ili, battle of Leipsic had been fought, In March . IEI4 Paris had been captured, and Buonaparte lad surrendered. The high expectations excited - . . 11 those events accounted tor the increase in stock which bad inkr.n. place at that period in the.trade• he next point urged by the Noble Lord was the: 11. crease in the importation of • foreign Notwititt,tatiding that.decrease, the leatfier used for home consumption had evidently not di ,minished in • any considerable degree. Our; great imports of bides were •from,. Scott) Amcrica ai.d Ilinenos Ayres; riod those coin toodies during - .the war bad been forced into v ohr market. •••;ince the peace, however, we ha - 4 shired that trade with other nations. . Hence siffse the diffeteoce het ncen - our former and our p:es Fit'i'nit:mts , The stale of th'e trade was not '‘ito4i-105 the Noble Lord had described. In Match 'che'piice of sole leather .was per pound ; in-1817, Is. 6d.; and.in.L.9lB, 15.,9d.; 60, ft it it had increased in 'a ratio calculated to do • ip(kiie .144 n cover the Yax. as ;mother proot that the tra-..vras'iroproving, lie skould . ineutiOn this -fadi,likat.lefiire "the, tax theie was but one stCaRl engine in Loudon employed iu the tanning bu- sloes', whereas there now Were five. Had the Noede Lord been able to imint out a hranch of that trade, which, not haelog been toxic% was more fioutishi,,g than—the -rest,- then-he wordd lo ve eceepfe te te ..eetahlkshaef his case. But he (effe ChericOlor, of the .Exchtleer) coeld_proye the very converse of that position. e - Hr could strew that there, was a branchrvlrich had not been taxed, and wloch was io a worse Condition than the rest--ehe meant the trade in 'buff leather and oiled.aud dressed leather, on which there %yes err addirionel defy, .and which had produced 130,0001. the year before that d'rty had been imposed on the , other branches, .and not with standing its exemption had since decreased, first to 117,0001. and lastly to between 40 - and 50,0001. a-year. The n ex t arginireot used by the Noble Lord related to the number of petitions before the House. He (the Chancellor of the Excheriner) wished to treat them with all due re spect. lie would have them referred to, a Com mittee of Inquiry to consider their 'allegations. As to their numbers, they tright.be acconnied for by a circular letter_ whiCh had been sent through the country, dated the fith March, and which stated, that it was only by the, greatest exertions, and by sending as marry petitions as possible to Parlimirept before next `l'hutscl ty, and by a particular application to Members at- this most favourable period, that Tanners could hope to get rid of the additional duty. There were petitions before the House against other taxes, which brought a revenue ef three millions and an half, and if the repeal of this duty should be followed by that of the rest, what resource would remain to the country ? The Noble Lord said that the public' expenditure might be diminished and sine cures ahelislied.. But sinecures had been abo lished-last year. It was true the Noble Lord had proposed a reduction in the army which be sup posed would 'produce a saving of 180,0001. a year, but that would not have been sufficient to replace a tax which brought from 200,0001. to 250,000/. If [lon. Ilembers doubted the ac curacy of his statements, let a Committee be ap pointed to investigate the merits of the question, or let them reject a motion, which, if successfully followed by others against existing duties, must leave the country no other choice than disgrace and bankruptcy on the one side, or the Property Tax on the other. Mr. CURWEN should not be deterred by the threat of the Property Tax front giving his sup port to the motion. The Leather Trade was in a most distressed condition. The augmentation in the number of steam-engines employed by Tan ners in the metropolis was no proof of an in crease of trade, butt arose from the state of per fection to which those engines had been brought, and their havingbeen rendered applicable to other branches of industry. He should .not have ob-• jected to a Committee, had not one been appoint ed at a former period, without any good coming out of it. He therefore thought that it would be better to meet the question at once. Mr. BENSON denied that the Petitions before the House had been procured by the Circular Letter alluded to by the Right Hon. Gentleman opposite. They arose from real distress, But the Right Hon. Gentleman, who had courage to per severe in the Tax, dared not tell the country that he would reject her Petitions, but proposed that they should be referred to a Committee. Every oncknew what would be the result. • A Commit tee had been already appointed, and had lasted the whole of the Session ; and this would .again he rite case if that mode were adopted. He was therefore strenuous for the motion. The midi tionel duty was 170,0001., and lie wished to know whether this was an object fit to prevent Govern ment from giving employmeht to the poor ? • Lord CASTLEREAGH said, the question was now fairly before the House, which would be ready to efford relief in any case ; hut great cautiop ought to be observed in all appeals against taxation, or the country would be• left without funds. It ought to be examined what the operation of - the Report of the last Session had been, as the House never could prevent great capitals from overlaying small ones. He was therefore in favour of referring the question to a Committee, "Ishe leather ferule had undoubtedly been affected by the peace, but it had as great a tendency to revive as any other trade, particularly as the home trade had, it ap peared, doubled itself within the last five years. He moved, as an amendment to the motion of the Noble Lord, that a Select Committee be ap pointed to take the petitions into consideratioo. Mr. BROUGHAM had seen no ground for alter ing the opinion he entertained when theeolditional duty was laid on. It was, in his opinion, a soli tary sort of Income, Tax laid upon labour, and that Government would, in the end, be the losers by it. Lord COMPTON was in favour of the motion, because those most interested in the reduction of the tax, the agriculturists, were that class whom the. House most wished to serve. As machinery had not produced the effect it originally had in all other trades, it a fforded a p roo f that this trade was in a very hail way. Colonel Wool) did not pretend to-understand the history of this trade; but if foreign hides bad been excluded, the trade of Britain and Ireland must have been benefited. Ile was in - favour of the Committee, because he did not- think that the reduction of this branch of the Revenue was, caused by the additional duty; but it might be; caused by the peace; as abundance of army shoes, purchased at Gs. Gd. were now sold at 2s. lie thought we had shifted the burden of the Property Tax from the shoulders of the rich to those of the poor, who .did.not subscribe a farthing towards it. He would therefore have - no hesitation to vote for a renewal of that Tax, if the Salt Tax, which af fected every person ill the kingdom, could be got rid of, as well as that on leather. He proceeded to shew how these two taxes bore upon the coun try, but particularly the for . mer, which, he con tended, affected every necessary of life. Ile was Convinced, that it would be much better to pre serve the Duty on Leather, and to reduce that on Salt. General GASCOIGNE was,agaimst the'Committee, as occasioning delay, as the P titiuti all agreed that the additional duty was a most. serious tax. lie was'" sure the House. would support any tax i s wodetately laid, in preference to this, which was . . most oppressive upon labo ur , an d t h e commun i ty r was immediately put=-:ithat the Bill should be red at huge. a third time. Mr. C. CALvertT took' a comparative view of Sir W. ,BURRoUGHS proposed to obviate the ob,! Diojes on Leather for several years, and ar- jection by snaking a' verbal amendment to the, gued, that the Right lion. G e ntl emen h a d l ast c l ause respecting Magistrates seizing the papers o f ycay set the duty considerably too low. persons against whom no charge was preferred"' The CHANCELLOR Of the EXCHEQUER explained, hut that of having been found in a disorderll that he had taken an average for four years. - meeting. This, after what had beers said on Mr. MARayATT was .decidedly against the ad- former evening by the SolicitOr-General, ditional t a x . Jr had occasioned so.turich distress he apprehended, meet with no opposition. in one parish, where there were several tanners, The Somcerne-6 NERAL said, his argument OP that the poor-rates were 203. in the pound, while the clause, which hid been referred to, went hot they were in the adjoining parish only Its. He to prove that the seizure of the paper's of a person proceeded to shew the vast effect from the de- prosecuted for a libel was not one of the eases crease of the export trade ; as, by the exporta- contemplated in the framing of the present Bill. • lion- of foreign hides raw, instead of manufac- Sir W. Buattotrons thought his ameodmeot tures!, five-sixths of- . the profits were lost to the more necessary than it hail appeared to be,beforer tanner. argued,; that there would be no di- if it was intended that the Bill should cover the minis , ion whatever to the revenue if the addi- seizure of the papers of a prison against whom 0° Clonal duty were given up. charge was preferred but that he bad attended Mr. LustuNoros; contended, that the diminu- disorderly meetings. tion of the trade was entirely owing to the situa- Lord Casil.e.llF.Acrt thought . . it would' be inv lion of the country, 'consequence of its return possible for the House to depart from the erta• to a state of peace. The revenue from this article ',fished practice which had been laid ,down from had increased in proportion .as the number of the Chair. The Hon. Member would have a ll Tanners had declined InisinesS. Many of them opportunity of moving- his amendment on the would rather the tax should remain as it is, than third reading of that the drawback should he repealed, as the latter Sir J. NewpoeT announced it to be his inten• was 3d. arid the new duty only lid-. tion to move two.arneudments on the third read- The House then divided on the motion of the ing of the Bill. The first wotild go to provide that Noble Lord, nomsdemnity should be granted under the present Ayes Q. t Bill for any excess of rigour in the treatment of Noes Majority , —lO pension Act ; the 'second to coact, that persoutt SELECT VESTRIES: On return to the G,+llery, who h a d suff ere d Mi g ht bri ng - t h e i r act io n aga i nst allery,- Mr. S. BOURNE was Ministers, who, he proposed, should be indemni.• found descanting on a Report from the. Committe e, fied out of the Habeas Cur pus • •• pus uspension Act. , on - the Poor L-sws, recommending a Bill, for leave to brim, : The Bill then went throu g h a C omm i ttee; t he in which he was about to move, epOrted- it to have received no amend... and the obj ec t o f w hi c h was to esta bli s h Se l ect went; and th e thi r d rea di ng was fi xe d for to! , Vestries, in parishes not affected by local reg u la- morrow. Lions, li e st a t e d t h e different principles of the Bill. The first was, to give 'additional influence to persons liable be elected as overseers, in proportion to their assessments. The Bill would extend to all parishes in the kingdom not rept . - hated by local acts of their own. It would enable parishes to aepoint Select Vestries, for the better management of their local concerns. .1t would be proposed that the orders of the said Vestries should not be over-ruled by the decision of a single Magistrate, but by not less than two. An other object would be to enable parishes to ap point assistant-overseers, to preside and relieve the annual officers, who go out often before they can be acquainted with their ditties. The nex object was, to make a better provision for se BOARD OF LONGITUDE. Mr. CHOKER moved the second , reading of die Bill for consolidating the Acts relating 'to the Board of Longitude. An expedition he stated to be about sailing 'to the Northern Regions. It was desirable the Bill should'pass before" it left" England. The ships were to sail by the 26th of March, and as the Officers engaged in it were interested in knowing what detiiion Parliament were coming to - on - the measure, he hoped the House would allow it to he .read a second time, and committed for Monday. , Atter a short conversation, in witieh Sir C. MONCK and Mr. SMYTH participated, the Bill was mad a second time, and committed for,Mow' day. ting to work the children of parents unable to maintain them, instead of giving them money for their support, which was too o f ten i m p ro p er l y applied. He'apprehended that the law, as it now stood, did not. justify Magistrates in awaht iNg money for the maintenance of children, but that they should be sent to the workhouse.— The next provision of the Bill was to give em ployment to those who were out of work. Ano ther object would be, to let ont very small parcels of land to -labourers, to cultivate on : their own account, -- a - practice that had been tried- in some parts, and attended with the most beneficial ef fects ; also to enable parish officers to recover houses in which they. had placed paupers, as well as land, without the tedious proceedings and:ex pences of law-suits. The next proposition was simi lar to what was adopted last yearAttliiriningham, that of raising the owners of houses, in' the poor rates' assessments, instead of the occupiers. The only objection urged against this part of the plan was, that it was •a. new principle to rake the owners, as they might be absent when the rates were made. But several Gentlemen had sta'ed to the Committee, that if the mea sure were proposed as a general one, they .would have no objection to it. Another point was to allow Overseers to exercise their discre tion as to the - quantum of relief to be given, by inquiring into the former character in life of per sons applying for it, and it they had been main.; turiate in business to advance them loans, with powers to recover them. Pensioners also Might he allowed to receive their pensions weekly from the parishes, the latter receiving their pay when it be came due. With respect to settlements, the Bill was intended to give the power to overseers to remove paupers without their being committed by the Magistrates. After pointing out several minor objects, the Bight Hon. Gentleman moved for leave to bring in a Bill to regulate Parish VeStries. In answer to a few words from Mr. CALVERT, Mr. S. BouriNa said, the Committee now sitting were devoting their most serious attention to find out a remedy for paying the wages of agricultu ral labourers out of the poors' rates. He had re ceived an account of a parish in Suffolk where the Hee of labour was 3s. a Week, and the parish paid the rest ; this was an evil that originated from the worst of motives, and produced the most oppressive conduct towards the poor, whom- it drove to the painful and revolting necessity of receiving parochial relief, whilst the honest shop keeper, who lied no need of labourers, had to bear the burthen of the rates. lie hoped the Bill would discourage so odious and alarming a prae tice The third reading of the Husbandry Horses' Bill Was post poned till to-morrow. The Steam Boat Bill was ordered to he committed on the 10th of April. Mr. C. W. WYNN moved - for a List of the Offices appoini: ed for the reception of Writs for the Election of Members a Parliament, and an account of the Writs sent by the Post- Masters General, pursuant to an Act of Parliament for the Wore regUlar conveyance of I Vrits.--Ordered. Accounts of the Land Tax and the sums paid to redeem it in each County, were ordered to be laid before the 1 - souse! Adjourned. • After a few words from Mr. C. CALVERT, Ge ieral HOPE, and Mr. CALCRAFT, leave was given o bring in the Bill. INDEMNITY BILL. The. ATTORNEY-GENERAL moved the Order of the Day for the House to resoive itself into a Com mittee on the Indemnity Bill. Sir Wm. Bouttouons stated it to be his inten tion to move an Amendment when the Report should he brought up. Lord CASTLEREAGH said, if no Amendment were moved in the Committee, no question could be raised on the Report. Sir WM. BuRRoUGIIS WES not aware that would be any obstacle in the way of his moving the Amendment on the Report. As the evening was so far advanced, he could wish the subject not to - be entered into before to-morrow. .He had in formed some of his friends of what he had intend ed, who had in consequence left the House. The SPEAKER said the amendment could not be proposed o❑ the Report, it no alteration were made in the I3ill•wbils it was in the Committee. If the Ch►►irman repotted the Bill e to-haye passed.througlt t h e c o imuittee without tuneudineut, the question ( IRELAND. MURDER AND BURNING OF THE LYNCH FAmns- The Assizes commenced at Dundalk o n Tu, f lay before Judge FLETCHER, in the Crown Court. when Hugh M'Cabe, John Kiernau, an d James Caiiipbell, were indicted for setting fir e to the horse of Edward Lynch, of Wildgooie Lodge, it the county of Lanth, in October, 1816, and als° for the murder of the said: Edward Lynch, Thomy mas Rooney, and4ames Rispin. The circumstances (4 - 04 horrid case were de tailed some tu ne sin ce . - The Jury, after some deliberation, returned verdict of Guilty, es to the three prisoners; which was immedi a t e ly f o ll owe d b y a feeling and energetic address from the - Bench to the prisoner!' upon the enormity of the crime for which their lives were sho r tly t o p ay t h e f orfeit ; the clearness of the grounds upon which they bli g , been convicted ; and the necessity for the!r employing the short int erva l a ll otte d — to .thefo in this life to make their peace with their God' The Learned Judge concluded, by pronouncing the awful sentence of the law upon the wretched convicts, who skewed symptoms of obduracri which shocked the entire auditory. From the LONDON GAZETTE, MARCH JO. DIVIDENQS. April 21, FL Daniell, Greek -street, Soho, coachmaker - : - A . pril 14, S. V. Gore, IlishoPsgate-street, haberdasher—Ari l 14, W. Horn, Queen : street, -Lienehouse, sailmaker—March 31, E. Mackintosh, Haymarket, accoutrement-ruaker—;Marc h 31, It. Clark, St. Mary-hill, ship and insurance-brolici* - ; March 31, J. B. Tolkien, St. Pain's Church-yard, china an d glass-seller—April 11•, W. Hamilton and NI. Agar, Riches' court, Lime -street, merchants—April 6, A. Jarman,,TY,Pin! of Sheet, H a mp s hi re , tanner—April 3, W. Vincent, J. ner, J. Barnes, an d S. Hancock, Newbury, Berkshire, ban ! kers—April 10, It. Clough, It. B. Clough, D. Mason ( o°- ceased), and J. L. Jones, Denbigh and Llanrwst, banke r" April 9, T. Dent, Carlisle, draper—April 2, J. Lirock, se"' and J. LiVock, jun. Lowestoft, Suffolk, grocers—April 4, J . Bull, sen. and .1. Bull, jun. Red Lion-court, Watling-strec t, merchants-- , April 4, W. Rainsford, High-street, : S ou thwar i : linendraper—April 14, J.. Landsell, jun. Bexhill, Surl farmer—April 11, P. Turley, East Grinstcd, Sussex, farcal —April 11, 'l'. H a ll, jun. E v e s h am , •W orcesters hi re grocr r —April 7, A. Cuff, Barking, E ssex , d e al er i n coals April •T. Ansel!, White Horse-yard, Little Wild-str ee t, lived' stable-keeper—April 4, E. Richardson' Great Ithssell-stre th Covent-garden, linen-draper—April 11, N. Bell, Borehalr park, Hertfordshire, hay-jobber—April 3, J. Johnson, WhIT . fleecy, Isle of Ely, farm er —Ap r il 7, J. Hancock and Sheldon, Burslem, Staffordshire, potters—April 7, W. Boofe , Hanley, Staffordshire, I;otter—April Is, J. Davies, -Cant's bury, linen-draper. • CERTIFICATES—MA • R. Strachan and T. Stubbs, Cheapside, warehousemen- 47 ; Valentine, St. Jam e s's- wa lk, Clerkenwell, japanner—J• L • Watellorn, Oxford-street, linen-draper—A. Granville, Or mouth Dock, china and glass-merchant—N. S. johns ol4 Manchester, mannfacturer. BIRTH. On Wednesday. morning last, the Lady of George Parker , Esq. of Sloane -terrace, of a son. DIED. - • ...for., On Saturday last, Mrs. Ameli a Lyt e , w if e o f Mr. 13 _ e t Lyte, Georges's-street, Adelplii, and sister of Lieut.-Colo" Viney, R.A. On Wednesday last, at his father • house in Upper Ch of lotte-street. Fitzroy-square, aged 2.1, Robert, second so" Alexander Balmanno, Esq. - - • a . LONDON:, Printed by.). B. CARSPAIRS, of No. 29, " at Ormond-strret, Queen-square ; and published by LC, SCRIPPS, of No. 7, South Molton-stre e t, at THE au' Office, No. 112, Strancl ; where .A.dvertisemeiltsy Orders/ Letters, &c. (post-paid) iuust Veaddresskl.